Sci-Fi Bulletin: Exploring the Universes of SF, Fantasy, Horror and Spy-fi!

Grand master of the British spy novel, John le Carré (the penname of writer David Cornwell) has died, aged 89.

The creator of George Smiley and the Circus – his name for the British Secret Intelligence Service – was renowned worldwide for his novels and their verisimilitude. He introduced Smiley in his first novel Call for the Dead, but it was The Spy Who Came In From the Cold, and its movie version starring Richard Burton, that brought him fame. His final novel was Agent Running in the Field, published in 2019.

His agent, Jonny Geller, called le Carré “an undisputed giant of English literature. He defined the cold war era and fearlessly spoke truth to power in the decades that followed”.

Gary Oldman who played Smiley in the 2011 version of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, said “For me, John le Carré was many things. He was, of course, a very great author, the true “owner” of the serious, adult, complicated spy novel—he actually owned the genre. All who follow are in his debt. His characters were drawn deftly and deeply, nuances too many to count, and for me, inhabiting George Smiley remains one of the highpoints of my life.”